27: [Team Building] Finding and Working with the “Right” Contractors w/Erik Saengerhausen

Erik Saengerhausen has been developing his owner financing real estate investment company for over 6 years.  He and his business partner, Mike Arch, run Alamo Home Source.  They buy houses, fix them up and sell them with owner financing.  Then, they sell the notes to investors for incredible returns.

They currently flip more than 75 houses a year and are working up to 100 houses.  That’s a lot of fixing up of houses!  They know a thing or two about finding and working with the right contractors to be able to do that kind of volume consistently.

In this episode, we cover the definition of the “right” contractor for the typical real estate investor.  We also talk about what negative aspects to look for when trying to find the “right” contractor.

Erik has a different model for paying contractors than I do.  He has guys that he pays on a weekly basis rather than per job.  I hire on a per job basis so that the contractor is paid per job rather than for the amount of hours worked. 

That’s an important thing to keep in mind — there isn’t simply one correct way to work with contractors.  There are lots of strategies for how to work with contractors and you should find the one that works best for you and your contractors.

Many times these discussions will focus on the point of view of the investor and not on what it means for the contractors.  We discuss how important it is to make sure you see things from the contractor’s point of view as finding and keeping the right contractors working for you can mean the difference between success and failure in this business.